Whan delivers with 2nd year of Founders Cup

Put a “W” in the win column for LPGA commissioner Mike Whan. His outside-the-box domestic tournament – the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup – will feature a legitimate purse next year, of $1.5 million. This time, players will get paid.

“I’ve said from the beginning, I’m not a status-quo guy,” Whan told Golfweek. “I like to try something different.”

Whan calls it Founders Cup 2.0. The event will be back at the Wildfire Gold Club in Phoenix on March 15-18 and feature four rounds rather than three. Like this year, $500,000 will go toward LPGA-USGA Girls Golf.

The money raised from this year’s event added 40 new Girls Golf sites in 2011, bringing in 1,500 new members. The LPGA projects $375,000 in grants will go toward Girls Golf sites across the country.

In 2012, players no longer will designate their earnings from a mock purse to a charity of their choice. Instead, charity efforts will focus solely on the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf initiative.

Whan said he’s proud of the fact that this event started with players playing for nothing, the entire field “paying it forward” in an effort to grow the game.